I’ll share some so you can get the point and join in: TERMS FOR ‘other than full’ SIBLINGS
If one of your parents, either one, has a child with a person who isn’t your parent, that child (if a boy) is your half brother. If either of your parents marries another person after you are born and that other person has children by a previous partner, those children are your step siblings. This is not hard, but you would be amazed how interchangeably and inaccurately the terms are used. (Examples: I was reading an article today about Mary Todd Lincoln’s stepsiblings who were killed in the Civil War- they were in fact her half-siblings. A magazine article recently referred to Barack Obama’s stepsister in Hawaii- again, that’s a half sister. The Brady boys and the Brady girls were step siblings.
I read an interview with Gore Vidal in which the interviewer referred to Vidal as Jackie Kennedy Onassis’s stepbrother, which in fact he was not (though his half-brother was; Jackie’s mother married Gore’s former stepfather after Gore was no longer related to him.)
A historical error I’ve read many times: “Until Columbus, people thought the earth was flat.” It’s said many times as if it’s a well known fact, which perhaps it is, but at least on the Dope I don’t have to belabor the fact that it’s a completely false fact.
Barack Obama’s father was not an African-American. He was an African. The terms African-American and black are not interchangeable, and yet you’d be surprised how often this pops up.
What are some that always make you want to say “W-R-O-N-G!!!”?
Seeing Lewis Hamilton referred to as an “African American” by American journalist always makes me cringe.
My fiancee used to use the word touche to mean something like “look who’s talking!” I’ve heard lots of other people use it in the wrong context too- or misspell it, which is worse.
When Star Trek: Voyager premiered alot of articles mentioned the fact that Tuvok was the first African-American Vulcan. He’s not even human. That’s worse than hearing people refer to Nelson Mandela as South Africa’s first African-American president.
I remember years ago someone insisting that a certain friend of mine was Chinese-American. No, actually, she’s Vietnamese-Australian, but thanks for playing.
And speaking of being strapped for cash – can you borrow me some money? I’d really love to loan a ten from you.
In references to celestial objects, I frequently hear a figure that’s impossibly close or impossibly far away. Examples:
Several Twilight Zone episodes featured an Earthlike planet (or “asteroid”) that was supposedly something like “ten million miles from Earth”.
I’ve got the National Geographic Channel on. Interesting docudrama about the Space Race. There’s a promo for another show, with the narrator saying: “When you wish upon a star, even at the speed of light, it would take your wish five million years to get there!” WTF? Where the Hell did they get that figure?
Sorry not to offer one of my own, but another example of this one that I still get a kick out of…
I once saw a man being interviewed on local news who was furious – furious – that African-Americans are never given proper credit for building the great pyramids at Giza.
That second one would be entirely accurate if you wished on a star 5 million LY away. What’s wrong with that? There’s certainly plenty of choice.
If you want a faster turnaround time, you just need to aim your wishes in the direction of Proxima Centauri and you should have a reply in 8 years, give or take a bit. It’s all about correct star selection.
The farthest stars visible to the naked eye are about 4,000 light years away. You can see the galaxy Andromeda with the naked eye, and it’s 2.5 million light years away, but it’s a) not a star, and b) not 5 million light years away.
I suppose you could theoretically wish upon a star while looking through a telescope, but I imagine it kinda ruins the moment.
Not out and out a factual error, but an implication of a factual error:
“William Henry Harrison contracted a cold after giving a two-hour (or whatever) inaugural address on a cold, rainy day with no hat or coat. . .”
While that all of that is factually correct, it implies that the cold conditions caused his cold (or whatever it was that later turned into pneumonia).
While your point is factually correct, it’s possible that either the script writer or narrator goofed, or possibly you misheard it. I haven’t seen that doc, and I meant to record it but my DVR was full.
Reason I say this is: If you substitute “speed of sound” for “speed of light,” you do get a reasonably close 5M years to get to Alpha Centauri at 4.3LY away.
Another TZ factual error from “From Agnes With Love:”
Wally Cox asks this question to the computer (whose name is Agnes):
“What is the first prime number larger than the 17th root of 12 trillion, (some number) million, (some other number) thousand, and (the rest)?”
(I apologize for the gaps, but I don’t remember the exact number.)
The computer responds “5.”
Not true.
If the number was supposed to be 12 BILLION, etc., then 5 is correct. As stated by Cox, the correct number would be 7. (17th root of 12 B is @3.9; 17th root of 12T is @5.9)
If we’re going to nitpick, then let’s go the Wizard of Oz. “The sum of the square roots of any two sides of an iscoceles triangle, is equal to the square root of the remaining side.”
That the US Public Health Service actually gave black men in Tuskegee, AL syphilis, when the actual crime was that they withheld treatment and allowed folks to needlessly suffer all in the interest of data collection.
That said, it can be reasonably argued that by withholding treatment, the govt allowed people to get infected that would not have been otherwise. So I’m fine with saying that they indirectly gave syphillis to people.